Greg on Flickr:

Originally posted on May 22, 2009 – updated with some additional photos

I know it Seems kind of random but I had a Lipstick Jungle marathon last night (had never seen the rest of seas0n two, now out on DVD) and Carlos Ponce plays a sexy contractor involved with Lyndsay Price’s character of Victory. In the end, Victory chooses Andrew McCarthy’s billionaire character over the contractor.

The only other thing I remember Carlos from was his stint as a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. But in reading up on him, I see that he has done much, much more. He’s been in all kinds of Spanish-language telenovelas (Dame Chocolate), is a recording star who has reached number one of the Latin Billboard charts, and co-hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 2006.

It may not be really well known, but David Letterman got his big-time television start in 1978 on the short-lived CBS variety series Mary starring Mary Tyler Moore. It was then retooled into The Mary Tyler Moore Hour and Letterman was again on board as part of the ensemble cast.

It seems that is why Letterman always had such an affection for Mary who appeared many times over the years as a guest on first Late Night With David Letterman on NBC then The Late Show on CBS.

With Letterman announcing today that he will be retiring from The Late Show in 2015, it seemed like a good time to post one of Mary’s appearances on the show – this was from 2002. They talk a little about the variety show and their chemistry during this appearance, as with all the appearances, is quite special.

I’m a mess after watching this – just wiping away tears left and right.

Good grief, I think I believe in love again!

The truth is, I used to get lost in fantasy as a teenager that I would marry a guy and in my mind, the festivities were very much like what goes on during Sonny and Will’s wedding on today’s episode of Days of Our Lives.

With gay marriage becoming legal in a growing number of states with more sure to follow, my fantasy as a teen that I knew could never come true can actually come true for young gay people dreaming about that today,

That is why I will be forever grateful to this soap for giving us this episode, this wedding that was filled with love and supportive family and friends.

It’s the way it should be and always should have been.

Sonny tells Will during his vows: “You are my anchor that doesn’t weigh me down but gives me something to hold on to. Our life together is the greatest adventure of my life. I love you so much.’

(Freddie Smith, you are glorious in this scene – glorious)

Will tells Sonny: “I didn’t believe that I’d ever find any kind of love let alone the love I found with you.”

It’s all here, the speeches by relatives, the first dance, the cutting of the cake.

This is a can’t-miss event and if you have never been, there is still a little bit of time to get your tickets – but very little.

It is Simply DiVine, an always wonderful event where with price of one ticket, you get unlimited samples of food and drink from a host of top-notch restaurants, wineries, craft beers and spirits.

The event, previously in Beverly Hills then on Melrose Place, has a fitting new location this year: the Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood located on McCadden Place.

Among the restaurants this year are the new Mud Hen Tavern which I tried recently and immediately liked. And then there are some of my very faves like Fred 62, Mohawk Bend, The Abbey Food and Bar and the ever-popular Umami Burger which always has the longest line at this event.

Let me tell you, the food and wine are the best and the people watching cannot be beat! Hot men, hot women, men who like men, women who like women, men who like women … you get the picture! You will also likely run into a celeb or two. In past years, I’ve gabbed with Meredith Baxter and Ross Mathews while trying to balance my tray of wine and food.

General Admission ticket ($100) gets you into the festivities on McCadden Place while a Club VIP ticket ($500) gets you exclusive access to the courtyard inside the Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza and tastings of rare, high-end wines and savory bites prepared in front of you by celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (of Two Hot Tamales and Border Grill fame), Kris Morningstar (Ray’s and Stark Bar, Patina Group) and Suzanne Tracht (Jar).

The funds from your ticket purchase go directly to the life-saving services of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, which include homeless youth services, HIV/AIDS medical care, youth mentoring and development, seniors services, cultural arts and education, and much more.

The adorable Olympic diver Tom Daley had said he “still fancies women” when he came out last fall.

But now it seems that he considers himself to be gay and not bisexual.

Tom appeared on Keith Lemon’sCelebrity Juice quiz show and talked about coming out.

Lemon: “So Tom, let’s get right to the crunch here – you’re a gay man now?”

Daley: “I am.”

Lemon then asks Daley if he has a boyfriend, to which Daley replies: “Yes, I do.”

Lemon: “Did you have one [a boyfriend] when you announced it on YouTube?”

Daley: “Yeah, that was the whole kind of reason behind it.”

“I came out on YouTube as I wanted to say what I wanted to say without anyone twisting it. I told my family before I told the world. I was terrified. I did not know what the reaction was going to be. I did it on YouTube because people were constantly digging and asking questions.”

Broadway veteran Cheyenne Jackson moved to Los Angeles last year to focus more on television and film work.

But he’s returned to New York City for a brief return to the stage this week in the Encores! presentation of The Most Happy Fella.

Cheyenne talked to Playbill about his latest gig and more – here are some excerpts:

Between promoting your record, touring with your solo concerts, and shooting films like the upcoming “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” you’ve been very busy.CJ: And I’m loving it. If you give me 10 things to do, I’m much better than if you give me one thing to do. A lot of downtime isn’t so great for me. I love to work no matter what genre it is. In fact, I just did a cool, crazy guest spot on an upcoming CSI spin-off with Patricia Arquette, and I love that it’s so random and different from singing “Joey, Joey, Joey” at Encores!

Theatre seems to have taken a backseat to your other projects and passions.CJ:I was offered a lot of Broadway shows in the past year, but I told my agent that wanted to do more film, and that’s what happened. I was approached about doing On the Twentieth Century, which is coming up with Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher, and I would have loved to be a part of that, but right now my life is in L.A. My family and my fiancé are out there. Until there’s something specifically written for me or there’s a project I just can’t pass up, I’m going to have to keep New York theatre limited to stuff like Encores! and other short spurts.

It’s still hard to believe you’ve relocated to Los Angeles.CJ: I know. I never thought it would happen. My mom and dad still lived in Idaho, but they moved to Laguna after both my grandparents died last year. My sister lives near Fresno, and my brother and his family moved to San Bernardino. My family was always sort of spread out, but now all the kids are in the same state for the first time. Honestly, in getting sober over the last couple years, revaluating relationships and friendships, I realized that what’s really important is my family and the people I love. I’ll always come back to New York, but I have to admit that it’s nice to wake up in L.A. and have it be 70 degrees instead of 28.

Zac Efron’s good looks and ripped body were obviously not lost on Seth Rogen when the two stars were making the comedy Neighbors together.

‘It’s freakish!’ Seth told Conan O’Brien last night. ‘The first time I saw him with no shirt on, my first instinct was there was something wrong because he has so many bumps sticking out of his body! My body is like one big bump, and his is like 87 different little bumps that come together!’

Seth added: ‘In the movie I make a joke, it’s like his whole body is like a giant arrow that points to his d–k!. It’s like someone designed the muscles to draw your eyes down from his gorgeous face and suddenly it’s like a Plinko game with your eyes.’

Zac is shirtless in a lot of scenes in the movie and Seth said his younger co-star would actually work out between scenes to keep his energy up and make his muscles look bigger.

‘We had to keep writing into the scenes that I would like touch his body – I would just look at it and want to reach out and touch it as though it was a mirage of some sort. … He brings it out in me!’

OMG, Allison Sweeney (Sami) had me in tears at the end of this episode – tears.

Before she’s about to walk her oldest child down the aisle to marry Sonny Kiriakis, she tells him: “From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you would be the best thing I ever did – and you still are. … William Horton, you are the perfect son.”

Then it comes time for Sami to walk Will down the aisle followed by Sonny being walked down by his mother Adrienne.

Lots more happens in the scenes leading up with the best stuff being between Sonny and Gabi and Sonny and his uncle Vic.

The whole marriage certification thing involving EJ flying off to Chicago is very silly and far-fetched and necessary. But the Sami-Will scene makes it all worthwhile.

Chris Evans showed up on The Tonight Show Tuesday night to chat up his latest flick Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

I saw the movie on Monday and can tell you that it is terrific – one of the better superhero movies I’ve seen.

The highlight of Chris’ appearance on Tonight was not related to the movie though – it as the surprise appearance of his brother Scott.

The Evans brothers were asked by host Jimmy Fallon to play The Sibling Wed Game, a version of the popular Newlywed Game. It involved asking each brother the same question while the other can’t hear to see if their answers match.

Hilarious childhood stories are told with the future Captain America the instigator and his future soap opera star brother as his innocent victim.

There was the time Chris tricked Scott into peeing his pants and the time Scott took the blame for ripping down a giant patch of wallpaper along a staircase.

Worst of all, there was the time when Chris smacked Scott with a paperback Peter Pan book while they were riding in a car with their mom. The book connected with the stiches Scott had on his head from an earlier mishap.

As adults, it was Chris who publicly outed Scott during an interview he gave to The Advocate. This was prior to Scott’s casting on the now-cancelled ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live as gay police office Oliver Fish.

I only mail a few letters each month but I can tell you right now that whatever I mail from here on out, it will be with a Harvey Milk commemorative stamp.

Well, at least once they become available in May!

It’s a wonderful tribute to a great man and it is so well-deserved.

We’ve known since last fall that the slain civil rights hero was going to be honored with a US postage stamp.

What was not known until this week was what it would look like.

The stamp is to be issued on May 22 – Harvey Milk Day – and will feature a black and white photo of the late San Francisco Supervisor who will be the first openly gay elected public official to be featured on a stamp.

It also features the colors of the gay rainbow flag up in the upper left corner, according to an image obtained by Linns Stamp News.

Both San Francisco and Washington DC are being considered as possible cities for the stamp to make its debut.

It will be a ‘Forever Stamp’ which seems fitting since Harvey is someone we will remember forever.

If you are a fan of TV’s Top Chef, then you know that Kristen Kish became only the show’s second female champion last year.

What viewers did not know then was that she was also the first lesbian champion.

The 30 year old came out publicly over the weekend when she posted a photo of herself and girlfriend Jacqueline Westbrook on Instagram with this caption: ‘Helicopter ride over Charleston. Happy 1 year love. You’ve made me incredibly happy.’

The Instagram photo coincided with an article in The New York Times about female chefs that Kish was included in.

In the article, the former model-turned chef says she had no interest in being on television because she feared would play up her looks more than her skills.

She and Westbrook, who is the assistant to the Food & Wine editor in chief, had kept their relationship under wraps but now seem poised to instantly become one of the most high-profile couples in culinary circles.

Originally posted on October 26, 2010 – updated with additional photos

Kyle Dean Massey is a bright new star on Broadway who is best known for playing Gabe in the musical Next to Normal, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about a bipolar mom and her family.

He also happens to be openly gay which makes me an even bigger fan of his.

Kyle has appeared in Wicked, Alter Boyz and Xanadu on Broadway and in national tours of Wicked and 42nd Street.

He grew up in Arkansas and attended college at Missouri State University where he graduated with a degree in musical theater.

This is a man who knew what he wanted to do and he is doing it! He’s doing more than performing these days: Recently, Kyle began teaching master classes at New York City’s Broadway Artist Alliance, a prestigious musical theater training program for young talent.

Kyle, 28, recently shared some thoughts for the It Gets Better anti-bully campaign and his words carry a lot of weight because he’s been there growing up gay and bullied in Arkansas: “I felt compelled to make my video because I’m proof that it gets better, a whole lot better. I took dance lessons and I was endlessly made fun of. … Don’t let anybody ever talk you out of doing something you love because it makes you feel different. …All that bullying takes a toll … but if you give it time, it’ll get better … and it’ll make you a stronger person in the end.”

Watch his video here followed by footage of Kyle singing at an outdoor concert. He is just heaven.

Deidre Hall, the legendary longtime star of Days of Our Lives, spoke to The Advocate about the wedding of Will and Sonny on the NBC soap this week.

On the message she hopes viewers take away from the storyline: “We live in a world where any love is a lucky thing to find, and if you can find it with a person with whom you’re compatible and you trust, lucky you. I celebrate anyone who has found a wonderful, sustaining love.”

On the love she’s received from LGBT fans: “It is overwhelming. For months after Will’s coming out, I can’t remember a time where I went out and wasn’t stopped by some darling young man saying things like, ‘You saved me,’ or ‘I didn’t know how to tell my parents [and because of this show] I was able to tell them. I’m still hearing from fans who say, ‘The way you handled it was the way I only wish it had been handled in my own life.’”

On her character performing the wedding: Marlena is an “incredibly clever and a natural choice” to marry the couple “because she was the one who knew Will was gay before he knew he was gay.”

Their wedding is a few hours away in today’s episode so Sonny and Will have no scenes together.

But they have some wonderful scenes apart.

Sonny’s mom Adrienne is there to help him get dressed and it’s so nice to see that she has come around and now seems genuinely supportive of the wedding and the marriage.

Will is visited by his hunky, ex-priest uncle Eric and their cute scene involves a big hunk of cheese (you’ll see)

There’s some drama with Sonny’s uncle Victor telling off a homophobe and Marlena’s certification to perform the wedding suddenly in peril.

But nothing is better than the short and very sweet letter Will has left in Sonny’s tux jacket which read in part: ‘I promise to never forget what a gift you are. I am honored that in a few hours, you will be my husband.’

Anderson Cooper gave a candid, wide-ranging interview to radio host Howard Stern this week during which the CNN anchor revealed more personal details about his life than ever before.

Cooper talked about his days as a child model – a profession he entered at the age of 10 because he was worried about an impending financial collapse.

Between the ages of 10 and 13, he modeled for such brands as Macy’s and Calvin Klein.

But that early career ended abruptly when he got propositioned by a male photographer who offered him $2,500 for sex.

‘He somehow got my phone number, called me up and offered me money. It so freaked me out. I never told anyone – I just stopped (modeling). … I was 13 years old, I wasn’t even thinking about sex with anyone.’

Cooper knew since he was 5 years old that he was gay and said it was only for a few years when he was 12 and 13 that he thought it was difficult. He came out to his friends in high school and his famous mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, when he was in college.

‘It just felt totally natural and totally right – let’s get started,’ he said of accepting he was gay.

He had been around all kinds of gay people since childhood because people like Truman Capote were friends with his mother.

Of Capote, Cooper said: ‘ I didn’t like him. He had gross toenails.’

Cooper shares that he will not inherit any of the fortune of his 90-year-old mother, a world famous heiress who went on to launch a famous line of women’s jeans.

He believes not relying on Vanderbilt money has helped him to be more driven and accomplish things on his own.

Stern touches on Cooper’s relationship with boyfriend Benjamin Maisani who he has been with for five years. The newsman said Maisani does not travel with him while reporting in such hotspots as the Ukraine.

He also tells Stern why he doesn’t dye his hair which began to turn white when he was 20: ‘What was I going to do? Sit in a salon reading old copies of Rosie (magazine) with tin foil in my hair?’

Rosie O’Donnell, who has hosted several Tony Award telecasts but never received one, will be getting a Tony of her own on June 8.

Rosie has been selected as the recipient of a special Tony Award for her commitment to helping provide arts education to students in New York City public schools.

She will be presented with the Isabelle Stevenson Award which each year goes to a theater community member for their humanitarian, social service or charitable contributions.

The former co-host of The View is the founder of the nonprofit arts education foundation called Rosie’s Theater Kids. It provides students with training in dance, music and drama as well as mentoring programs and exposure to professional theater.

‘Rosie exemplifies the spirit and the generosity of the Broadway community through her “pay it forward” mentality within the arts community and beyond,’ Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, executive director of the American Theatre, said in a joint statement.

In addition to hosting the Tonys three times, Rosie has graced the Broadway stage as a performer on several occasions including in productions of Grease, Seussical, and Fiddler on the Roof.
Here are some Rosie Broadway-related moments:

I snapped the top photo of Debbie Reynolds a few years ago at the TCM Film Festival – I love it.

Today, the enduring star of such films as The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Singin’ in the Rain and How the West Was Won turns 82 years young.

Debbie raised her two children largely as a single parent after first husband Eddie Fisher left her for Elizabeth Taylor. One of those children is, of course, movie star and author Carrie Fisher of Star Wars, Postcards From the Edge and Wishful Drinking fame.

In her book, Wishful Drinking (also a Broadway show and HBO special), Carrie remembered her mother’s big dressing room which she would enter as mom and exit as movie star Debbie Reynolds.

And what a movie star!

She first made her mark while still in her teens starring with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in the classic MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain. She went on to star in such hits as Tammy and the Bachelor, Bundle of Joy, The Tender Trap, The Catered Affair, The Mating Game, The Singing Nun, Goodbye Charlie, and Divorce American Style.

She was one of the stars of the 1962 epic western How the West Was Won and earned her only Academy Award nomination for best actress for her stupendous performance as the title character in 1964′s The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

When the film roles dried up in the 70s, she hit the Broadway stage, put together a nightclub act and did television guest appearances. Then in the 90s, film roles came her way again starting with Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth followed by a wonderful starring role as Albert Brooks’ mom in Mother which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination (she lost to Madonna of all people!).

She then played Kevin Kline’s mom in the comedy In & Out, starred in the Disney TV film Halloweentown and its sequels Haloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, Halloweentown High and Return to Halloweentown.

Her other TV movies include These Old Broads (co-starring Miss Taylor), Battling for Baby, The Christmas Wish, and A Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story. Debbie also had a recurring role on the sitcom Will & Grace in the hilarious role of Grace’s eccentric mom Bobbi Adler. It’s a role she played to perfection and her “I Told You So” dance is a classic.